[William Clemmey]

Debbie
Happy to send you across ours – its been updated by AI and so is very readable
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Julian
Another option is to introduce a Service Charge – we did so and raised £118,000 from our 46 properties. Of our residents around 35 were on Housing Beneift and we offered bursaries for those who could not afford the increase

See our Maximising the WMC through Service Charges – November 2024 webinar on Te Almshouse Association webiste https://www.almshouses.org/webinars/

and the accompanying papers which I am happy to send to you

Longer term its a good idea to start new residents off at the equivalent fair rent figure for their WMC – then over time you will catch up on this.as residents move on

THe reality is you need to bite the bullet or there will no longer be an almshouse provision. When I arrived I pointed out that 3 of our 5 Almshouse charities would go bust within 3 to 5 years if we didnt do anything
Thankfully they are now all solvent and the residents benefit as a result

Happy to discuss further
William Clemmey
07922508913
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Hilary and Juliet
I shall send you ours as well
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Julian
We do not have a problem with this. We send our WMC and Service charge costs to the District Council each March and there has never been a problem. They pay the money directly to us. Once we give the new resident their letter of appointment we give them a copy that they can take to the Housing Benefits opposite (fortunately just across the road from our offices)

f you follow Nick’s advice above you should be fine

Can I also encourage you to consider charging a Service Charge to your residents which is also eleigible for Housing Benefit – see our webinar on The Almshouse Association website
youtube.com/watch?v=bxKReP-Or-w&feature=youtu.be
All the best

William Clemmey
cheifofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Simon
Our criteria states
The Governing deed stipulates applicants must be “poor persons”, i.e. of limited financial means (capital, savings, income etc.).

However, applicants may be considered as “poor”, even if they have limited capital (i.e. under £50,000) and a weekly income ceiling of no more than £300 single and £600 couples. Such individuals will have no benefit entitlement and would have to pay their own WMC, Service Charge and Heating and Lighting and council tax and, when applicable, their own care packages.

Priority will be given to applicants who will qualify for housing benefit and / or council tax relief.
Hope that helps
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Jacqui
Happy to send across our equivalents
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Dear All
I would be very happy to share our Residents Survey and results with you. We have run one for 4 years now
As a Registered Provider our survey includes the questions that the Regulator of Social Housing requires plus some of our own
I shall share with those who have already expressed an interest and anyone else can email me for a copy or ask on this forum

We have tried holding residents forums without much success. Instead we have two weekly coffee mornings for residents and they are able to raise any issues there or with our Scheme Manager
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

TinaI have googled average rents for Stratford-upon-Avon and also asked a local estate agent. I shall send across my formula calculation and would be interested to see yours
Sue – thanks for pointing out the rent flexibility in section 2.14 where you can go up to 105% of the formula rent (or 110% for supported housing)
William Clemmey
chiefofficermunicipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Adele
I am trying to send you a copy of our Residents handbook but your email bounces back
William
chiefofficer’municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Tina
Here are my thoughts on answering your questions
a) Do new licences start at existing wmc rate per property (minus service charges) plus upto a 5% increase. So long as they dont exceed the fair rent valuation
For new residents we currently increase the WMC charged to the fair rent valuation we have obtained from the Valuation Office – in future we will also look to compare it to the formula rent calulation now that I have worked out how to calculate it. Either way will lead to an increase in WMC levels for new residents.

b) is the Rent Cap the fair rent valuation? – It looks like the Rent cap is much higher than the fair rent valuation
see p36 of this document for current rent caps (which certainly exceeed our WMC and Service Charge)
These will increase annually by CPI plus 1.5% (see 2.4 of the document)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/697b8d18f8f4a746d9572f51/Annex_B_-_policy_statement_on_rents_for_social_housing.pdf

c) WMC annually can only increase by a max of 5%. . if CPI plus 1% exceeds an 5% increase- then the wmc can only be increase by the consumer price index
No we can increase WMC by CPI plus 1% for the next 10 years.
2.18 Registered providers are not required to reduce rents (in nominal terms) should
CPI fall below 0%. In this circumstance, registered providers may not increase rents but
they are not obliged to reduce them (i.e. there is a floor of 0%)
So from April we will be increasing WMC by 4.8% (CPI of 3.8% in September 2025 plus the 1%)

d) if residents move between properties- the wmc cant be reset
We certainly charge the residents the new WMC since its a new property that they are moving to with a new WMC and possibly new service charge level

e) rent flexibility level is 105% – not sure what you mean by this

f) if wmc when increased by CPI plus 1% is below the formula rent (existing wmc?)- does this mean a negative amount? in which case there is a £2 allowance
From April 2027 if the WMC increase of CPI plus 1% results in the WMC level being below the formula rent then we can increase it by an additional £1 a week
From April 2028 if the WMC increase of CPI plus 1% results in the WMC level being below the formula rent then we can increase it by an additional £2 a week
In theory the WMC will eventually catch up with the formula rent

This is all good news for registered providers since in the past the only way to increase WMC for older residents would have been to apply to the regulator for an increase and the paperwork involved looked horrendous – hence we started by increasing WMC levels for new residents and adding a Service Charge for all residents

Hope that helps
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Virginia
Very happy to share the terms of reference for our sub committees:
Properties Committee – deals with Almshouse properties and maintenance
People and Governance Committee – deals with policies and staffing
Finance and Risk Committee – deals with finance, budgets, investments and risks
Relief in Need Committee -deals with charitable giving fund
William Tyler Properties Committee (dealing with commercial property)
Residents Appointments Committee

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

The Wessex Almshouse Group have a great comparison benchmarking exercise and I am sure Nick Stiven will respond collegeofmatrons@outlook.com

There was a previous topic Reviewing Employee Pay which seems to have disappeared
Meanwhile
Very happy to benchmark our salary figures
These are the ones from 1 April 2025

2024 hourly rate 2025 hourly rate 2024 hours Total/week
Scheme Manager £22.00 £23.10 30 £693
Operations Manager £22.00 £23.10 30 £693
Chief Officer £28.53 £29.96 25 £749
Finance Officer £26.00 £27.30 22.5 £614
Cleaner £15.89 £16.68 2 £33
Handyman £16.48 £17.30 10 £179
Handyman £16.48 £17.30 30 £519

We are likely to have a 5% salary increase from 1 April 2026
Hope that helps
William Clemmey
cheifofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Diane
We currently offer an additional day’s holiday for each year of service (up to 5).. In addition we offer one additional day’s holiday is offered for all staff to be taken over the Christmas period. So staff can have up to 34 days holiday a year

Our work life balance policy includes the following (happy to send the full policy over)

Work life balance options within Municipal Charities are:
Flexible Working Arrangements:
Flexi-time – working contracted hours during the week to meet work demands but on days and at times agreed with line managers.
Part time work – defined by the government as working less than 30 hours per week – on days and at times agreed with line manager. This applies to all of our current staff.
Home working – where appropriate to the task
A process for handling employee requests for Flexible Working for Parents (Staff handbook has details).
Job sharing – more than one person carrying out the duties of one post – with the prior agreement of the line manager
Breaks from work – time off for dependents, parental, adoption and maternity / paternity leave. (Staff handbook has details).
Study time for relevant or required accredited longer courses.

Support For Parents (including adoption):
1. Extended paternity leave: two weeks at the same rate as maternity pay and an additional one week at 90% pay.
2. Increased statutory maternity pay at 90% of salary from 6 weeks to 8 weeks.

Salary Sacrifice Schemes:
1. Cycle to work Scheme offering loans for staff to purchase bicycles. E.g. https://www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/employer
2. For those wanting to invest more into their pension schemes – Municipal Charities will contribute 10% of the amount sacrificed on top of the employee’s salary sacrifice into the pension scheme. The employer will contribute 10% up to the current Government limit which will become £2,000 from April 2029.
(This will actually save the Charity money – 5% since they will not be paying the 15% employers NI)
3. Training courses undertaken in the staff members own time that Municipal Charities do not fund – the staff member can sacrifice their salary and Municipal Charities will then pay the training fees from the salary sacrificed (this can include driving courses). The staff member benefits from not having to pay tax and NI on their fees.
4. Access to the Computing Scheme for purchases of computer equipment
https://www.techscheme.co.uk/how-it-works?gclid=CjwKCAjw34n5BRA9EiwA2u9k38sE1QLdXSbS-PsjVGOAWQj4peEm8sfF-RngZPwD9kD4O4Y2M92w7hoCZ-IQAvD_BwE
5. Staff are encouraged to join the Charity worker discount scheme
See HMRC salary Sacrifice information

Other Benefits:
1. Free tea, coffee and soft drinks at work.
2. Free eye tests for all those using computer screens. Free glasses up to the cost of NHS glasses Voucher C (currently £92.60) for those with middle vision problems.
3. We currently offer an additional day’s holiday for each year of service (up to 5).
4. Staff can carry over up to 10 days holiday into the next year.
5. One additional day’s holiday is offered for all staff to be taken over the Christmas period.
6. Employers Pension contribution is 6% by Municipal Charities – to be matched by the employee. Municipal Charities will match up to 8% of the salary pension contribution into the staff’s pension scheme. .
7. If a person wishes to quit smoking then we would offer to pay for a Smoking cessation course.
8. Up to 8 hours (pro rata) of paid employee volunteering each year.

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Vanessa
Many thanks for the link to your wealth of policies which are excellent
William

[William Clemmey]

David
My role is known as Chief Officer (or you could run with Charity Manager)
Happy to share my job description
all the best
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

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